


The Space Between

by isabeau25



Series: Wump Bingo [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Season 6 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 05:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15018011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau25/pseuds/isabeau25
Summary: *Spoilers for Season 6* Allura needs some help with her hair, and maybe a bit of reassurance too.





	The Space Between

**Author's Note:**

> *Spoilers for Season 6* Written for Wump Bingo.

Space spread out in front of him, empty except for small pinpricks of light in the far distance.

‘Middle of nowhere’ had taken on a new meaning since they had lost the Castle. They had been in space this empty before, but it had never felt so hollow or lonely. Or maybe that was just Lance.

They hadn’t been able to find a place to set down for their sleep cycle, and they were all too tired to keep going, so they had tethered the Lions together and called it a night. Hunk had been on the comms for a while, arguing with Pidge about making alterations to their route and what spots were worth detouring for. It had gone on for almost half an hour before Keith had told them to switch to a private line so the rest of them could get some sleep.

Lance kind of wished he hadn’t. Hunk and Pidge hadn’t really wanted any input from him, but it had been nice to have their voices filling up his cockpit. Now it was just him and Red, and Red had flickered down to a warm glow in the back of his head, occasionally flaring up to grumble at him for not at least trying to sleep.

He hated the idea of even trying. It had been almost three days and everything still felt too twisted up inside him to really want to sleep.

“Lance, are you awake?”

Allura’s window popped up on his view port, and he swiped at it absently, opening the connection.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” Allura appeared, her hair a messy halo of tangles around her head, and the circles under her eyes still dark.

Apparently, transfer someone’s soul from the astral plane to a new body was tiring.

“No, I wasn’t sleeping yet,” Lance plastered on a smile that he hoped looked genuine, “what’s up?”

“I don’t suppose you have a comb, or brush, or anything?” Allura gave him a frazzled look, “it seems I forgot to grab one in the rush.”

“I’ve got one,” Lance nodded, “I’ll bring it over.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Allura protested, “I can just get it next time we disembark.”

“It’s no problem,” Lance shook his head, already standing up, “I haven’t changed yet, and your hair is starting to look a little like a new home for the mice.”

“Is it really that bad?” Allura tugged on a strand.

“Yeah,” Lance laughed a little, “I’ll be over in ten.”

* * *

Stepping into Blue’s cockpit was like coming home after you had moved out. Still familiar and comfortable, but not really home anymore. Lance did his best to shake off his melancholy before Allura noticed.

“Thank you, Lance,” Allura pushed herself up from the pilot’s seat, “I was almost ready to cut it all off.”

“Don’t do that,” Lance said with mock horror, “Coran might never recover.”

Allura laughed, some of the tension and frustration dropping from her shoulders.

“You want some help?” Lance pulled a comb out of the case he had brought with him, “I am a fully approved hair stylist. My six-year-old niece can vouch for me.”

She was probably more like seven now, maybe eight, but Lance wasn’t up to contemplating that right now.

“Well, if your niece says so, it must be true,” Allura settled back in her chair, sitting sideways with her knees drawn up so it was easier for Lance to reach her hair, “I’m glad you’ll get to see her again soon. I would love to meet your family. I always enjoy hearing you talk about them.”

“I’ll try to make sure that happens,” Lance started at the tips of her hair, carefully working his way through the tangles, “they’ll be so excited to meet a real live magic princess.”

Allura laughed softly and rested the side of her head against the backrest.

They fell into comfortable silence after that, Allura nodding off in her chair while Lance did his best not to pull too hard as he worked out the tangles. It was a relief to have a job that required just enough focus that he didn’t have to think, at least for a little while.

“Do you want me to braid it?” Lance asked when he was done.

Allura started awake at his voice, blinking up at him owlishly. The circles under her eyes looked particularly dark in the cool light of Blue’s cockpit.

“Sorry Lance, I must have nodded off. What did you say?” she rubbed at her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance shook his head, “you look like you need the rest. Do you want me to braid it so it won’t tangle so much?”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Allura slumped down again.

“Are you doing okay?” Lance asked cautiously as he began separating out strands of hair, “a lot has happened really quick.”

“I…” Allura pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes, “I just still feel so stupid for letting Lotor take advantage of me like that, and I’m worried about Shiro.”

Lance swallowed hard and did his best to ignore the way his skin was suddenly crawling. He had to stop himself from immediately pouncing on the idea of something being wrong with Shiro. Allura was exhausted and getting her worked up just because he had messed up so badly wasn’t going to help her at all. He could ask about Shiro after she had gotten some rest.

“It wasn’t your fault Allura,” Lance started braiding, “Lotor had thousands of years of learning how to manipulate people. He knew just what angle to take to get you to trust him, and he fooled all of us.”

“That’s kind of you to say,” Allura sounded utterly unconvinced.

“I’m not being kind,” Lance said with more venom than he meant to; he felt anything but kind right now, “it’s true.”

Allura reached back and grabbed his hand, pulling it over her shoulder so she could hold it.

“Thank you, Lance,” she squeezed his hand, “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

“You’re amazing,” Lance squeezed back, “you would have figured it out.”

Allura smiled faintly and kissed his knuckles, then let his hand go so he could finish braiding. It didn’t take him long, and he tied it off with some string he had tucked into the case he had brought.

“All done,” Lance announced, “that should keep the tangles out for a while anyway. I’ll leave the comb with you.”

“Would you… would you stay a little longer?” Allura turned in her chair to face him.

“Of course,” Lance settled on the floor, back to the council and looking up at her.

“Thank you,” Allura’s eyes drooped, “tell me about your family. I’m so excited to meet them.”

“We live a mile from the beach…” Lance let his head rest back against the council and tried to force the tightness out of his shoulders.

* * *

Coran stepped into the cockpit, ready to chide Allura and chase her off to bed, but he stopped when he spotted both Allura and Lance sound asleep. Allura was curled up like a child in the pilot’s seat, and Lance was on the floor next to it, head resting beside Allura’s on the arm rest.

Coran smiled softly and retreated to collect two blankets. Nothing was easy right now, but as long as they worked through it together, they would be alright.


End file.
